web, and flies can-not? I think there must be some dif-fer-ence in their feet. The spiders can move a-bout very ea-si-ly in-deed, but the poor flies get en-tan-gled as soon as they try to walk upon the web, and then the spiders catch the flies and eat them. I think, if I were a fly, I should be very care-ful to keep out of the way of spiders' webs.-J. Abbott. LESSON XXVIII.-BUTTERCUPS AND DAISIES. But-ter-cups and dai-sies, Lit-tle har-dy flowers, Like to chil-dren poor, Yet a-lert and bold; Are these hu-man flowers! And a life of care, Gave them like-wise hard-y strength, And pa-tient hearts to bear. Wel-come, yel-low but-ter-cups, Who do-eth all things well.—Mrs. Howitt. LESSON XXIX.-TREES. A tree has roots that go un-der the ground a great way. The roots are like its legs: the tree could not stand with-out them. Then the tree has a trunk; a large, thick, straight trunk. That is its bod-y. Then the tree has branch-es. Those are like arms; they spread out very far. Then there are boughs; and up-on the boughs leaves and blos-soms. Here is a blos-som up-on the ap-ple-tree. Will the blos-som be al-ways. up-on the tree? No, it will fall off soon: per-haps it will fall off to-night. But then do you know what comes in-stead of the blos-som? What? The fruit. After the ap-ple blos-soms there will be ap-ples. Then, if the blos-soms fall off to-night, shall I come here and get an ap-ple to-mor-row? No, you must have pa-tience; there will not be ripe ap-ples a great while yet. There will be first a lit-tle, lit-tle thing, hard-ly big-ger than a pin's head: that will swell and grow big-ger ev-er-y day, and hard-er, till at last it will come to be a great ap-ple. But you must not eat it yet: you must let it hang till the sun has made it red, and till you can pull it off ea-si-ly. Now it is ripe; it is as red as your cheeks. Now gath-er it and eat it. Has the flower roots too? Yes: here is a cow-slip; we will pull it up. See, here are roots like strings; here is the stem of the cow-slip; here is the foot-stool; here is the flower cup; here are the leaves of the flower; and a pretty flower it is; fine yel-low with crim-son spots. Here are the seeds. If the seeds are put in the ground when they are ripe, an-oth-er flower will grow up.-Mrs. Barbauld. LESSON XXX.-THE CREATION-FIFTH DAY. God had made a great many things; but none of these things were a-live. At last He made some liv-ing things. He spoke, and the wa-ter was filled with fish-es, more than could be count-ed. Some were very small, and some were very large. Have you heard of the great whale? Fish-es are cold, and they have no feet, and they can-not sing, nor speak. God made some crea-tures more beau-ti-ful than fish, to fly out of the wa-ter. The birds they perched up-on the trees, and sang a-mong the branch-es. Birds have wings, and are cov-ered with feath-ers of all col-ours. The rob-in has a red breast; the goldfinch has some yel-low feath-ers; and the jay some blue ones: but the pea-cock is the most beau-ti-ful of birds. It has a lit-tle tuft up-on its head, and a long train that sweeps be-hind; some-times it spreads out its feath-ers, and they look like a large fan. The thrush, the blackbird, and the lin-net, can sing sweet-ly; but there is one bird that can sing more sweet-ly still-it is the night-ingale. At night, when all the other birds have left off sing-ing, the night-in-gale may be heard in the woods. Some birds swim up-on the wa-ter; such as geese, and ducks, and the swan with its long neck, and its feath-ers like the snow. Some birds are very tall. The os-trich is as tall as a man. It can-not fly like oth-er birds, but it can run very fast in-deed. The ea-gle builds its nest in a very high place. Its wings are very strong, and it can fly as high as the clouds. The gen-tlest of the birds is the dove. It can-not sing, but it sits a-lone, and moans soft-ly, as if it was sad. I cannot tell you the names of all the birds, but you can think of the names of some oth-er kinds." Peep of Day." LESSON XXXI.-THE WAY TO OBEY. When Rol-lo was about five years old, his moth-er one eve-ning took him up in her lap, and said, "Well, Rol-lo, it is a-bout time for you to go to bed." “Oh, mam-ma," said Rol-lo, "must I go now?" 66 'Did you know," said his moth-er, "that it is wrong for you to say that?" "Why, moth-er?" said Rol-lo, sur-prised. "When I think it is time for you to go to bed, it is wrong for you to say or do any thing which shows that you are not wil-ling to go." "Why, moth-er?" "Be-cause that makes it more un-pleas-ant for you to go, and more un-pleas-ant for me to send you. Now, when-ev-er I think that it is time for you to go, it is my du-ty to send you, and it is your du-ty to go, and we nev-er ought to do any thing to make our du-ty unpleas-ant." Rol-lo then said noth-ing. He sat still a few min-utes think-ing. "Do you un-der-stand it?" said his moth-er. "Yes, moth-er," said Rol-lo. 'Sup-pose, now, any moth-er should say to her boy, 'Come, my boy, it is time for you to go to bed;' and the boy should say, 'I won't go.' Would that be right or wrong?" "Oh, very wrong," said Rol-lo. Sup-pose he should be-gin to cry, and say he did not want to go?" "That would be very wrong, too," said Rol-lo. "Sup-pose he should be-gin to beg a lit-tle, and say, 'I don't want to go now; I should think you might let me sit up a little long-er.' What should you think of that?" "It would be wrong." 66 'Sup-pose he should look up in-to his moth-er's face sor-row-ful-ly, and say, 'Must I go now, moth-er?'" "Wrong," said Rol-lo, faint-ly. "Sup-pose he should not say a word, but look cross and ill-hu-moured, and throw a-way his play-things in a pet, and walk by the side of his moth-er re-luc-tant-ly and slow-ly. What should you think of that?" "I think it would be wrong." "Sup-pose he should look good-hu-moured and say, 'Well, moth-er,' and come pleas-ant-ly to take her hand, and bid the per-sons in the room good night, and walk off cheer-ful-ly." "That would be right," said Rol-lo. 66 'Yes," said his moth-er, "and al-ways, when a child is told to do any thing, wheth-er it is pleas-ant to do or not, he ought to o-bey at once, and cheer-ful-ly."J. Abbott. |